


The Gifts of Friendship

by Whisper132



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 15:55:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10539720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whisper132/pseuds/Whisper132
Summary: Yuri and Otabek's relationship blooms as they learn the art of giving, receiving, and documenting everything online to show off.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a drabble in which my goal was to use the phrase "knight in shining Under Armour." Things got a bit out of hand after that.

When Yuri comes back from Barcelona, he's tired and cranky (Viktor and Katsudon will _die_ if they steal his gold medal glory one more time), and he wants to text Otabek and tell him all the ideas he had on the plane home about how old age will make Viktor super ugly and then Katsudon will leave him for Giacometti or, worse, for that red-haired kid who thinks the sun shines out of Katsudon's ass. Yuri doesn't text Otabek, though, because he's not certain what the waiting period is between seeing your friend and texting your friend or the cadence of texting that's allowed once you've reached the end of the acceptable separation window.

Yuri's phone buzzes. He wants it to be a text from Otabek, but it's from Viktor. It begins with strobing hearts and sparkles, so Yuri deletes it.

Fuck it. He'll just send Otabek the text and whatever happens, happens. "Hey Otabek," Yuri says out loud as he types. "It's boring as shit here, so you should come visit sometime." Hearing his own words in his ears makes him queasy. He deletes the message. "That sounds like a fucking fangirl wrote it," he snarls at his phone, which doesn't reply, just dims a bit when he doesn't touch the screen after a while.

He tries again.

"What's up?" He hits send before he adds too much and things sound stupid and he loses his only friend right after he just got him, which he's not worried about because Otabek isn't an asshole like that, but you never know if a guy's gonna have a bad day and decide that being friends with a spazzy freak isn't worth the headache.

Yuri's phone buzzes.

Otabek sends a photo of a washing machine. "Just doing laundry. Very exciting. You?"

Yuri is huddled in a ball on his bed, panicking about the intricacies of friendship and texting etiquette. He takes a picture of his cat. "Relaxing."

"Your cat is cute."

Yuri spends the next half hour spamming Otabek with photos of his cat and random cat facts. In reply, Otabek sends Yuri some pictures of cats from around his neighborhood and explains why he never uses a dryer for any wash other than bedsheets. Yuri learns the proper way to fold a fitted sheet.

Yuri's heart sinks a little when he reads, "Time to go running." It lifts, though, when the message is followed by, "Good to talk to you. Maybe Skype next time so I don't have to fix all these typos?"

"Yes." Yuri wants to ask when that next time should be and if it could be tomorrow. He doesn't ask because asking that is embarrassing for some reason, even though he knows Otabek wouldn't think it embarrassing.

Otabek saves him from spending the next few days in self loathing over his social awkwardness. "Good. Practice tomorrow, but I should be around in the early evening, your time."

Of course Otabek would get right back to the rink without breaks. Yuri wants to, too, but his shins hurt and the doctor told him to take a week off to rest. He knows it isn't an actual injury, just the inevitable betrayal of a body that refuses to stay small and young forever.

"I'll be here." Yuri musters up a snarky smile and sends a selfie along with the message, "Have a good practice."

"Later." Otabek sends back a selfie, and Yuri's body betrays him in a completely different way, but that's part of the inevitable as well, he supposes, and probably doesn't mean anything. He'd be nuts to get turned on by Otabek's boring grey t-shirt and obviously uncombed hair. The Hero of Kazakhstan needs some new clothes and a comb. Yuri decides to send a care package so Otabek can stop embarassing his nation when he exercises.

"Later." Yuri sends his final text and starts looking online for running gear. He finds tight fitting t-shirts with chain mail print and leggings with armor patterns. He's not sure if Otabek is the kind of guy to wear leggings on his runs, but he's positive Otabek would feel obligated to wear them at least once and send photographic evidence that he appreciates Yuri's gift. That photo, alone, will be worth the price of purchase. Yuri buys the armor printed leggings, plus a pair of leopard print leggings for himself, before collapsing onto his bed for a nap with the cat.

*****

Yuri doesn't expect Otabek to post a picture of the leggings to his Instagram. Neither, it seems, does the Internet, which explodes with orgastic joy over every curve and ridge of Otabek's legs. "A gift from a good friend. Guess it's time to try something new!" is the caption on the photo, and the comments are full of Otabek's fans speculating who the "good friend" could be. Most of them think it's some Kazakh actress that Yuri's never heard of.

"Our little Yurio is all grown up and buying men clothes now," Viktor sniffs. He pulls Katsudon to his side. "How will we fill our empty nest when he runs off with his Hero and leaves us all alone?"

"Fuck off," Yuri grumbles before skating to a quiet corner to practice his footwork and decide how he feels about being Otabek's "good friend." In truth, he feels pretty damn happy, but he can't really decide why it is that he's so happy. He bought Otabek a present as a joke, and Otabek, despite being the most serious soul on Earth, played along. It probably took a lot of guts (more than Yuri has) to even put the damn things on, let alone let someone (A rinkmate? Family? That actress that everyone keeps fucking talking about without knowing anything?) take a picture of him and post it online. Otabek was probably uncomfortable as hell, but he played the game through for Yuri...for his friend...his good friend. Fuck if that doesn't make Yuri feel like he's won the Grand Prix gold all over again (only this time Viktor and Katsudon are on Mars and nobody cares about them and all anyone talks about is how fantastic Yuri is).

"Yurio! You have a package!" Viktor's sing-song shatters Yuri's daydream. He leaves the rink, wondering who would send a package to him here instead of to his apartment or the official fan address. Maybe it's a bomb. "It's from your knight in shining Under Armour," Viktor sighs.

Yuri rips the package open. He shrinks back, reflexively, when a friendly Pomeranian's face looks up at him from the front of a lightweight hoodie. Yuri picks up the included note. "I thought you could use something to keep you warm during practice. -OA"

A dog. Otabek has sent him a fucking dog. And he has to wear it because Otabek wore the damn leggings. And he'll have to post it on his Instagram because, if he doesn't, Otabek wins, and Yuri isn't going to let that asshole one up him. No way. "Katsudon!" Yuri barks. "Come with me!" Katsudon follows him out of the practice area and into the changing rooms. Yuri throws the disgusting dog hoodie over his head then shoves his phone into Katsudon's hands. "I'm counting on you," he says, and Katsudon nods seriously.

They begin the photo shoot.

*****

A month later, Yuri is still wearing the stupid dog to practice because, even though it's hideous, it's the most comfortable hoodie he owns. He doesn't feel bad about it, though, because Otabek admitted to him shortly after their now-infamous Instagram Gift Battle that the leggings are comfortable and his new favorite running gear. Some fangirls realized what was up when Yuri's photo was captioned "My good friend is a jerk and got me this. I can rock even the ugliest clothes, so the joke's on him." Armor printed leggings and Pomeranian hoodies are the fashion now, and Yuri blames himself, though Otabek takes responsibility for his portion of the problem.

"They're wearing it here, too," Otabek sighs over their weekly Skype chat. They didn't agree to a weekly schedule; it just worked out that way, and Yuri is pleased about the regularity of it and that Otabek doesn't seem annoyed if Yuri wants to fill the spaces between by texting pictures of random shit he sees during the day. Otabek texts a lot of electronics whose function Yuri doesn't understand, and Yuri sends Otabek pictures of food neither of them can eat because they're on mid-season dietary restrictions. It's awesome.

"You need to send me something that doesn't make me want to throw bleach in my eyes." Yuri curls into his chair and settles himself a little more snugly inside the cursed hoodie.

"Just buy something and pretend that I sent it." Otabek's grimace lifts just a bit. "Saves on shipping costs."

"You can't just lie about shit like that. If it's something good, they'll know I bought it for myself." Shit, that didn't come out right.

"I see."

"Look, we've got different styles. Yours is…" Yuri waves his hand in the air while he tries to think of an adjective, "...respectable." Yes, everything about Otabek is respectable. Sloppy sometimes (all of Otabek's loungewear has holes in it and is stained), but respectable. Those leggings were the first mildly risque thing Otabek ever owned; even his skating costumes are family rated.

"I see."

"And I don't want it to be from me; I want it to be from you. That's the whole point." No, he isn't supposed to say that out loud. He's supposed to say something normal, something that won't make Otabek think that Yuri is having too much fun being Otabek's friend and getting too attached to the idea that someone gives a damn about him for reasons other than the Grand Prix gold he shoved in his underwear drawer because he still doesn't feel like he's the best yet.

Otabek's smiles are rare, and they're awkward to witness, but they're also kind of beautiful. "Understood. We'll both do better this time."

Yuri doesn't grumble that Otabek has dissed him so casually. He just agrees so they can turn the conversation in the appropriate direction: Yuri complaining about Viktor and Katsudon hogging the practice ice.

*****

It takes a while for Otabek's next gift to arrive because they're both busy with the season-- and perhaps because Otabek is probably taking this much more seriously than he needs to (as he does with all things). When the gift does arrive, it comes to the rink again, and Viktor starts laughing his ass off as soon as Yuri opens it.

"Isn't that just adorable!" Viktor coos through his snickers. "They're playing with yarn and rolling so you can scratch their bellies." When he stretches his hand out to feel the fabric of the sheet set, Yuri snatches the gift away.

"That's a very…" Katsudon blushes, "...intimate gift to give."

"Huh?" What the hell would be so intimate about some cotton sheets with kittens on them? Otabek probably got the same thing for one of his million young cousins every year. "Whatever. I'm outta here." Technically, practice isn't over for half an hour, but nobody is going to get anything done if they're yammering about a perfectly normal gift from Yuri's exceptionally awesome friend. Also, Yuri wants to wash the sheets and get them on his bed immediately because his current sheets are boring and low quality, and these feel like he's wrapping himself in a garment of the gods.

"You are awesome!" he texts Otabek later that night after he's made the bed. He sends a photo along with the text before grabbing a selfie stick and taking a picture of himself luxuriating amongst the cotton kitties. He posts the photo to Instagram with the caption "Best sheets in the world! Best friend gift ever!" He notices that his face looks kind of stupid because he's way too happy, but whatever. Now he just needs to get Otabek something equally awesome.

*****

"What the fuck am I supposed to buy you?" Yuri groans after nearly a month of trying and failing to find something respectable and functional for Otabek that the guy doesn't already have. They're in a cafe in Almaty because Yuri was bored and needed to get away from the rink before he killed somebody.

"I don't really need anything." Otabek shrugs and sips at his espresso. "You could pay for lunch. That would be good enough."

"I suck as a friend," Yuri sighs. "You found the perfect thing right away." Otabek has actually sent him the perfect thing every week for the last month, though he sent everything after the sheets to Yuri's apartment. Nobody comes to Yuri's apartment, so they'll never know that Yuri's bathroom is completely redecorated now, from towels to rugs to trash cans. Otabek even found a tiger-shaped hair collector for Yuri's shower drain.

"There are a lot of cat things in the world. Shopping for you is easy if I stay away from clothes." Otabek looks like he's thinking very hard for a moment. "No, I really can't think of anything I need. Sorry." Otabek's eyes soften. "Don't beat yourself up about it. I'm just a boring guy."

Except Otabek is anything but a boring guy. He rides a motorcycle and makes remixes that Yuri secretly wants to build programs around. He makes the worst puns at random moments and doesn't realize what he's done until Yuri points it out. He goes out of his way to send Yuri presents that arrive just in time to keep Yuri from burning the rink to the ground in rage because he's starting to feel his body waver and doesn't know how to stop it. He tolerates Yuri bitching about everyone and everything and invites Yuri to crash at his place like it's no big deal even though Yuri knows that Otabek needs more personal space than most people.

Otabek Altin is a fucking hero for so many reasons, and Yuri is a failure because he can't even find a little knickknack to show how grateful he is that Otabek puts up with him.

"Saddlebags!" Otabek says like he's discovered the cure for cancer. "I need new saddlebags for my bike."

"Oh thank fuck." Yuri pulls out his phone and immediately starts shopping.

"What's the smile for?"

Yuri finishes his transaction. "You'll see."

*****

It takes a week for the special order to come in and another two weeks for Otabek to get the present because he's at Four Continents when the present arrives and visiting Yuri in Moscow the week after that. When Otabek finally gets the gift, he posts a picture to Instagram with the caption "Be careful when adopting cats. They leave their mark everywhere." The photo is a closeup of his new saddlebags, which Yuri had custom made with lions worked into the top flap. Yuri was going to just get the boring, plain ones, but he decided that what Otabek really, truly needs is a friend to help him spice up his respectable life.

"Like them?" Yuri asks when they Skype the next day.

"Yes." Otabek's face scrunches a little. It's an expression he's just started to show in the last week or so, and Yuri's not sure what it means yet. "They're very...aggressive."

Yuri really likes hearing Otabek say the word "aggressive" but is pretty sure that's more of his body becoming stupid. He ignores the swirling feeling in his lower stomach. "You're surprisingly aggressive yourself." Fuck, there's that feeling again. "The routine you're working on for next season is intense." Otabek showed Yuri some snippets of his new short program, and Yuri can't wait to see him perform the whole thing. It would be even better if Otabek performed it in the leggings Yuri bought him and oh god, he didn't just think about what Otabek's ass would look like during a quad lutz while wearing those, what is his fucking _problem_.

"I never really thought about it that way." Otabek shrugs. "You okay?"

"I think I ate something weird." Yes, this is all nausea from having too much piroshki. He is bloated, and his body is reacting by making him think of stupid shit.

"Take something for it and go to bed."

"I'm fine," Yuri says hurriedly. Their schedules are full of sponsor shoots, and they won't be able to talk for an entire week, possibly not even texting because of the time differences. It's dumb, but Yuri's gotten used to having some way to talk to Otabek every day, even if it's just sending Otabek a cat emoticon and Otabek sending back a sword, which is their way of saying, "I'm still here and still alive. Hope you are, too. Stay strong." Actually, Otabek's probably doesn't mean all that. Otabek's probably means, "I have no idea why you're sending me a cat, so I'll send a sword because that seems appropriate." And, really, Yuri's cat means, "I want to be Skyping with you or hanging out with you right now, but we just did that so I'm going to send a non-threatening emoticon because I need to remind you that I'm here, and I need to know that you're not forgetting about me just because we aren't in the same place right now, and I need to do all of this in a way that doesn't make me look like a psycho stalker when I think I'm actually turning into a psycho stalker and have no real way to stop myself and I really don't want to grow up to be Viktor. Help me, Otabek."

"Okay." Otabek looks away from the phone for a second. Judging from the background, he's probably looking at the clock on his stereo. "I need to go soon. I have to get up early for the tourism commercial."

Yuri grins because, really, all they'd need to do to promote tourism for Kazakhstan is get some pictures of Otabek running in his armor leggings without his shirt on.

"What?" Otabek's face scrunches up again.

"I was just thinking they could tape you working out and use that." Why the fuck did he say that out loud?

"Why?"

"Seriously? Do you not understand how hot you are?" _God_ , why was he still talking. Just _shut up_ , Plisetsky.

"Um...thank you?" Otabek's cheeks seem to tint a bit, but that might be the lighting in his apartment. "That's nice of you to say."

Awkward silence follows while Yuri tries to think of something to say that won't make him sound like an idiot. He finally breaks through with, "Yeah, well, read the comments of your own Instagram every now and then." Otabek's Instagram comments are full of fawning fans spouting testaments to Otabek's manliness and suitability as various people's "internet husband."

"I'll...ah...I'll do that." Otabek looks away again. "I really need to go now, though. You should get some sleep soon, too."

How the fuck is Yuri supposed to sleep when he's just made a complete mess of everything? "Look, I hope you don't think it was weird when I said you were hot."

"Why would that be weird?" Otabek looks genuinely confused, and Yuri wonders why he couldn't just stomach his stupid uncertainties and leave well enough alone.

"Because we're friends, and friends don't call each other hot?" At least Yuri doesn't think they do; he's only really had one friend, so he can't be sure.

"They don't?" Otabek's face scrunches up again, and Yuri suddenly realizes that Otabek may have more friends than Yuri, but he's equally as lost when it comes to their friendship as Yuri is. "I guess I don't really say that with my other friends, but it doesn't feel particularly weird. At least not coming from you." Otabek shrugs.

"Oh. Okay, then."

"Okay."

Yuri manages a smile. "Night. Sleep well."

"You, too, Yura." Otabek ends the call while Yuri's mind is still stuck trying to figure out what Otabek just called him.

*****

Yuri sends Otabek two pairs of plain black leggings because the armor painted pair are going to get worn out if Otabek keeps using them so much. He puts some of his favorite candies into the box as well. He finishes it all with a note that reads, "Beka, make sure you go for a run after eating the sweets or you'll get fat like Katsudon."

Otabek calls him Yura all the time now, as if that's how he's always addressed Yuri and it's nothing special. He even uses the nickname when he cheers for Yuri during competitions (Yuri got hell for it after the first time, but now nobody even bats an eye), but Yuri hasn't been able to work up the courage to do the same in public. In text and in private, Otabek is Beka now. In public, Yuri's busy enough trying to act normal, keep his legs under him, and not stare at Otabek's ass, which seems to have grown more and more shapely since they first met.

"What are you grinning at?" Viktor asks, sneaking up and reading Yuri's phone over his shoulder.

Yuri shuts off the screen before Viktor can see the picture of the note that Otabek sent him to prove that he'd received the package and gotten the message. "I'm not grinning at anything, you washed up has-been. Get away from me."

Despite the stinging words, Viktor still smiles. "I think it's cute that you've got your little nicknames. I'm sure _Beka_ feels loved."

"I'm not in love with him; we're just friends!" Yuri shouts, and it echoes in the rink, causing everyone to stop and look at them. Yuri realizes that Viktor wasn't accusing him of anything, and now he's gone and fucked everything up.

Yuri runs out of practice and goes home to hide in his bed, surrounded by his kitty sheets. An hour later, his phone rings. Otabek is calling him on his actual phone line, not a text or Skype. This has never happened, so Yuri picks up. "What?" he croaks, his throat tight from screaming his rage into his pillow.

"Katsuki told me you were having an emergency and I needed to call you."

How is he supposed to explain this without making himself look like an idiot? How is he supposed to tell Otabek about the weird feelings and even weirder daydreams. Yuri is almost 17, and he knows exactly what would happen if he, a kid, tells the very responsible Hero of Kazakhstan that he might have a crush on him. "I just lost my temper at the rink and made myself look like an ass," is the explanation he settles on.

"Again?" Otabek laughs. "Yura, you should be used to that by now."

It's a joke, one they've shared a lot recently, but Yuri can't bring himself to laugh this time. Instead, he just whimpers miserably and tries not to cry.

"Hey," Otabek says. "Talk to me."

"Beka, I--" Fuck, he can't do it. He can't say it and ruin the best non-skating thing in his life. "I can't."

"Okay," Otabek says softly. "Let's switch to Skype so I don't go poor talking to you. I learned some interesting things about jaguars today. I'll tell you about it."

He's giving Yuri time to compose himself, no doubt. "Kay. I'll call in a sec." Yuri hangs up, blows his nose, and cools his face down with a cold cloth. He puts on the leopard sweats Otabek sent him as well as the stupid dog hoodie. He crawls into bed and wraps himself in his Otabek sheets. He clutches the stuffed calico cat plushie that Otabek sent him. He is, as much as he can be, wrapped up in a cloud of Otabek, and he feels safe and reasonably sane again. He makes the call.

"Welcome back," Otabek says.

"I freaked out when I thought Viktor was telling everyone that I was in love with you because it's not totally true but it's not totally wrong, and I'm fucking confused as hell. Beka, this sucks, and I know that I'm just a kid and you're not interested, and fuck, what am I supposed to do? I don't want to fuck up our friendship and it fucking sucks." He gets it all out in one breath before burrowing into his Otabek fort a bit more.

"That's a lot to keep locked up, isn't it?" Otabek's smile is gentle. "Don't worry, Yura, you can't ruin our friendship. It's not that brittle."

Yuri relaxes a bit. "That doesn't really help me. I'm over here thinking stupid things, and you're over there being all calm. What am I supposed to do if you get a girlfriend, Beka?"

"I doubt that would happen."

Yuri snorts. "Fine, a boyfriend or whatever. How the fuck am I supposed to deal with that? I'm just a stupid kid, and I have no idea why all this shit is going through my head, and every time I think I'm starting to get normal again, my brain just starts thinking about what you would look like naked." Piecing together snippets from across the year of their friendship (and some light internet research), Yuri more or less knows what Otabek will look like naked: a god. A sculpted, beautiful, severely moody god.

Otabek sighs. "Yura, I will make a deal with you."

"What?" When had Yuri started crying again?

"I'll make a deal with you," Otabek repeats. "If you will promise to speak to me instead of bottling everything up, I will promise you that I will not date anyone for at least--" Otabek looks away from the camera, "—one year and thirty-seven days. Plus or minus a day depending on time zones."

Yuri isn't the best at math, but he's been running those particular numbers in his head for a while now. "And what happens when a year and thirty-seven days is over?" What happens when Yuri is no longer a kid crying in a heap of presents that mean more to him than the majority of the humans he interacts with on a daily basis?

"We'll see once we get there."

And that, Yuri knows, is the best he's going to get. "Deal," Yuri says and manages a bit of a smile. "Hey, um, you, too, you know."

"Me, too?"

"No bottling things up." Otabek probably doesn't know it, but he gets a constipated look on his face whenever he's trying to hide something, and he's got that look on his face right now.

"I was just thinking that my performances might be more...how did you put it?" Otabek ponders a moment before his eyes light up with remembrance. "Aggressive this season. That's all." Otabek looks away from his camera, clears his throat, and looks back.

"Do you know how fucking hard it's going to be to watch you skate now?" Yuri thinks about all the comments Giacometti has been making about how "mature" Otabek's skating is this season. He thinks about all the times he's had to turn away during a step sequence for fear that he'd make a fool of himself by moaning or worse at the sight of Otabek's predatory power while he moved across the ice. There is no way Yuri will be able to survive another year of this.

"You wanted me to share." Otabek laughs. "Maybe I shouldn't."

Yuri listens to the off kilter of Otabek's laugh and compares it to all of the other laughs Otabek has given. "Beka, if you're uncomfortable, you don't have to share. I just don't want you to feel like you have to keep shit in all the time."

Otabek lets out a long sigh. "Thanks."

They let the topic turn to the jaguar facts that Otabek clearly Googled before their Skype call so he'd have something to talk about in case things got awkward. Yuri is grateful for the opportunity to listen to Otabek's voice going on and on about habitat and hunting techniques. The sound of it is so relaxing that Yuri falls asleep, surrounded by the soft, comforting feel of the gifts of friendship.


End file.
